Simultaneously diagnosed with hiv and type-2 diabetes

Mar 23, 2014

Hi Dr. Holodniy,

Would it be unusual for a healthy male (late 20's, in shape, eats very healthy) to suddenly develop type 2 diabetes after being diagnosed with acute stage hiv infection? To be fair, type 2 diabetes does run in my family (and complications from diabetes has killed a few of my relatives), but my family has made a very conscious effort because of this to make sure that I have routine blood glucose level tests. And just 3 months before I was diagnosed with HIV, I had perfectly healthy blood glucose levels.

So I was diagnosed with hiv earlier this month, and I just met with my doctor to check labs. They came back: cd4 count of 714, and viral load of 4,000,000. My blood glucose levels, however, were 212 mg/dl!

So, my question is this: since my diet, exercise and weight have not changed, and up until my hiv diagnosis my blood glucose levels were fine, could it be that the acute stage hiv pushed my blood glucose levels into the diabetes range? How strange is that? Have you seen something like this before?

Thank you

Response from Dr. Holodniy

Hard to say at this point whether this is truly the onset of diabetes or the result of an inflammatory syndrome associated with acute HIV infection, which is also possible. Once your viral load is under control it is worth checking fasting blood sugars and hemoglobin A1C levels to determine whether the spike in blood sugar was transitory or permanent.

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